Name: Thikuna Canna binti Mohd Suffian
Student number: 1398768
Course: Censorship and social transformation
Tutor: Ksenia Robbe
Word count: 341Critical analysis of Nadine Gordimer’s ‘Living in the Interregnum'
Student number: 1398768
Course: Censorship and social transformation
Tutor: Ksenia Robbe
Word count: 341Critical analysis of Nadine Gordimer’s ‘Living in the Interregnum'
The interregnum from a white perspective
By the
1980s South Africa had started to find itself in a state of revolution. The
internal resistance against South African apartheid took on many different
forms. One of these forms of resistance was the cultural opposition that came
from writers, both from within and outside South Africa. Nadine Gordimer is one such writer. In her
essay ‘living in the interregnum’ she describes her visions and experiences on being a white,
female writer in the midst of the South African revolution. This essay is a
good reflection of the content of her other works, as it clearly shows an
interplay between her being an accurate observer of changes in attitudes of
South African society, while at the same time she is not afraid of writing from
her very own perspective. This perspective is massively influenced not only by
society, but also her role and position in this revolution. Although Gordimer
is very much aware of the fact that she belongs to a segment that is a minority
within a minority (272), one cannot escape from the colour of one’s skin and
the gender you were born with, and therefore her visions will always be biased.
Although Gordimer would not like to be seen or introduced as a white South
African novelist, this is exactly what she is.
The
relationship that Gordimer has with South African society is an ambiguous one,
as it is hard to have a meaningful relationship with a society that is in
transition, and thus in some sense doesn’t even exist yet. This makes the
credibility and feasibility of her arguments inconclusive, as the
responsibility that she carries as a writer can be questionable. I must say, however, that I do admire her
strength and courage as she is one of the very few white female writers that
isn’t scared to speak about life in the interregnum. Although I enjoyed reading
it, I found her visions sometimes too far-fetched inasmuch that she
sometimes seemed to speak for the black community, whereas she really speaks
from a ‘white discourse’.
Gordimer, Nadine. “Living in the Interregnum.” The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics, and Places. 272-284. 1988. London: Jonathan Cape. PDF
Gordimer, Nadine. “Living in the Interregnum.” The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics, and Places. 272-284. 1988. London: Jonathan Cape. PDF
I agree with you. When I was reading Gordimer’s essay, I indeed got the feeling as if she was speaking for the black community while in fact she doesn’t have a ‘’black voice’’ to do so [because she is white). However, as a reader it happens that you forget that the writer is white and you perceive the reading as if it comes from a black writer. However, as Gordimer says, she is a minority within a minority, but don’t you think she is still part of a greater, more influential group that the original black African people were/are? Moreover, The black African citizens fought against the regulations of Apartheid, yet they still in a way were consumed by this discourse as they after the abandonment of the Apartheid doctrine, still distinguished between black and white and were fiercely against interracial marriages etc. and by doing this they in a way, less obviously and less radically , kept the Apartheid discourse alive but turned it from white against black to black against white… So the question I ask myself, can you really abandon a discourse in which you are brought up with? When dismissing it officially and alter the laws is this enough to stop acting to it, thinking in this discourse that divides people on the basis of their skin color?
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